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DEPARTMI MI1 BURE THE OTTAM 05 Base of Peace Tower of the main building of the Parliament Buildings at Ottawa, showil~gthe use of Nepean s:indstone in the structure. The trimming stone used at the base and at il~tervnlsill the tower is another sandstone, from Sovn Scotia. CANADA DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND RESOURCES MINES AND GEOLOGY BRANCH BUREAU OF GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY GEO1,OGICAL SURVEY MEMOIR 241 GEOLOGY OF THE OTTAWA-ST. LAWRENCE LOWLAND, ONTARIO AND QUEBEC BY Alice E. Wilson te Parliament Buildings at me in the structure. The OTTAWA ~alsin the tower is another EDMOND CLOUTIER 8 PRINTER TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 1946 Price, 66 cents No. 2474 f CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................... V CHAPTER I Introductiorl .................................................................... 1 General statement ........................................................... 1 Previorls history ............................................................. I Field work and acknou~ledgments.............................................. 4 CHAPTER I1 Genera) character of the area ...................................................... 5 CHAPTER 111 Stratigraphy .................................................................... enset ........................................................... i Table of formations ...................................................... 8 Precambrian ................................................................ 9 Ordovician .................................................................. 10 Beekmantown ........................................................... 10 Nepean formittion .................................................... 10 March formation ..................................................... 12 Oxford formation .................................................... 14 Correlation of the Beekmantown (Lower Ordovician) formations ........... 16 Cliazy .................................................................. 17 Rockcliffe formation .................................................. 17 St . Martin formation ................................................. 19 Correlation of the Chazy formations .................................... U) Black River and Trenton ................................................. 21 Ottawa formation .................................................... 21 Collingwood and Gloucester ............................................... 26 Eastview formation .................................................. 26 Billings formation .................................................... 25 Correlation of Eastview and Billings formations.......................... 28 1)undas-Lorraine ......................................................... 28 Carlsbad formation ................................................... 28 Richmond ............................................................... 30 Russell formation .................................................... 30 Queenston formation ................................................. 30 Quaternary .................................................................. 31 Pleistocene ............................................................... 31 Glacial deposits ...................................................... 31 Champlain deposits .................................................. 31 Recent ................................................................. 32 CHAPTER IV Structure ........................................................................ 33 CHAPTER V Economic geology ................................................................ 36 Rock products ............................................................... 36 Building stone ........................................................... 36 Quarried stone ....................................................... 36 Field stone .......................................................... 38 Crushed stone ........................................................... 38 Stone for cement ......................................................... 39 Sand and gravel ......................................................... 39 Stone for lime ........................................................... 40 Abrasives materials ...................................................... 40 Miscellaneous uses ....................................................... 40 CONTENTS - Concluded Water ...................................................................... 41 Potable waters.. ......................................................... 41 Mineral springs .......................................................... 42 Oil and gas .................................................................. 44 CHAPTER VI Bibliography .................................................................... 49 Geology .................................................................... 49 Palaeontology ................................................................ 55 The Ottawa-St. La 5,500 square miles lyin rence River and Otta~ ~ 1 Index .......................................................................... 61 larger province of the S formations that, in tur older ~recambrianroc city of Ottawa, and fo. Map 85%. Ottawa-Cor~~wall,Ontario and Quebec .............................. In pocket geological study and p: 413A. Ottawa sheet, East Half ........................................... " " 414A. Ottawa sheet, West Half .......................................... " " The present acco Plate I. Nepean sandstone in the main building of the Houses of Parliament, extending over a ~eric Ottawa ...................................................... Prontispiece time in connected for] 11. A. A boulder hill of Nepean sandstone, near Mirabel, Quebec ............... 45 IH. Oxford dolomite showing cryptozoons and characteristic weathering. ....... 45 of the area, and is illr 111. A. Sandstone lens in shale in Rockcliffe formation .......................... 46 by two more detailed L B. Ottawa formation, showing natural profile of a drag on the down-faulted side includes a full bibliog of a fault, Governor Ray, Ottawa .................................. tfi geology or palaeontol 1V. Thick limestone strata of the I,eray-Rockland beds of Ottawa formation. Quarry south of Rockland, Ontario. .................................... 17 intended to serve a dl V. Heavy layers of Cobourg beds of the Ottawa formation as exposed in the Palaeozoic formations excavation for the Customs Building, Ottawa. ........................... 48 bibliography for a se Figure 1. Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland, showing its relation to the Canadian Shield , that will deal particul~ and the Adirondack Mountains .................................... VI fauna of the Ottawa fc 2. Index of separate maps of Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland ................. 3 3. Faults affecting the Palseozoic rocks of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland. In pocket OTTAWA,September 2 PREFACE The Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland represents an area in Canada of some 5,500 square miles lying mainly between and west of the junction of St. Law- rence River and Ottawa River. It forms a characteristic part of the much larger province of the St. Lawrence Lowlands, underlain by flat-lying Paleeozoic formations that, in turn, rest unconformably on an eroded basement of much older Precambrian rocks. The Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland includes the city of Ottawa, and for more than a century has been subject to intermittent .............In pocket geological study and palceontological investigations. ............. .' " ............. " '3 The present account is based largely on the author's own field work Parliament, extending over a period from 1925 to 1941, inclusive. It deals, for the first ...........1"rontis~iece ............ 4.5 time in connected form, with the Paleeozoic geology and economic resources ic. weathering .... 15 of the area, and is illustrated by a general geological map of the region and ................ I(i by two more detailed maps of the area about the city of Ottawa. The memoir the down-faulted side includes a full bibliography of the many contributions concerned with the ................... 4Ci This is tf Ottawa formation. geology or paleeontology of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowland. ................... 17 ! intended to serve a dual purpose, as a guide to future investigations of early on an exposed in the i Pal~eozoicformations in other parts of Canada, and as a convenient reference ................... 4s I bibliography for a series of presently planned Geological Survey Bulletins ) the Canadian Shield that will deal particularly with the identification and description of the prolific ................... vi ld ................. 3 fauna of the Ottawa formation. amence Lowland. In pocket GEORGE HANSON, Chief Geologist, Geological Survey OTTAWA,September 25, 1'945 Geology of th ( The Ottawa-St. La greater physiographic pr part of it, here describl basin occupies, altogethc lying between the Laure and the Adirondack Mo the Frontenac axis, an i rocks, which connects tl the Thousap? Islands border is defined by a 1 anticline', and which e- Quebec, south to the Adi sandstone, except near R brian rocks emerge thrc country. The Canadian part about 5,500 square mile: accompanying geological of the Pal=ozoic fo~mat Figure 1. Figure showing the position of the Ottawa-St. Lawrence 1,owland relative the basin extending west to adjacent areas of Precambrian rocks (in ruling). axis. The rnap-units used by recognizable disconft the